Gettin’ its samba back

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Tuesday

Jun 29, 2010 at 12:01 AMJun 29, 2010 at 12:07 PM

A half-hour into the World Cup’s second round, Brazil found its rhythm.

A hammer-strike header. A pinball-style counterattack. An explosive run followed by a clinical finish — Brazil’s football orchestra was playing in true harmony yesterday for the first time in the tournament.

Coach Dunga said there’s still much to improve, but he must have been encouraged by the 3-0 win over Chile at Ellis Park in Johannesburg.

Chile is no pushover. It earned its place in the second round with victories over Switzerland and Honduras and a 2-1 loss to European champion Spain.

Against Brazil though, Coach Marcelo Bielsa’s team never had a chance.

“It was likely our best match so far,” said Maicon, who struck the corner kick that set up Juan’s powerful header for 1-0. “We did well against a team that had been playing well so far in the tournament. It was important to show that we can come up with a good performance when needed.”

Until the Chile match, Brazil had been a letdown for its samba-dancing and demanding fans, who don’t just want to see Brazil win — they want to see Brazil win in style.

The team struggled to beat North Korea 2-1, improved in a 3-1 win against Ivory Coast but was held to a disappointing scoreless draw against Portugal.

The Brazilians appeared to be heading for another lackluster performance at Ellis Park, creating few moments of danger in the first half-hour save for a long-distance shot by Gilberto Silva.

It all changed with Juan’s opening goal. Bielsa made two substitutions at halftime and a third 17 minutes into the second half as Chile pushed for an unlikely comeback. But it struggled to find ways past Brazil’s defense, while Dunga’s team seemed to come close in every other attack.

“We created a lot of scoring opportunities and didn’t give many chances to our opponent,” said Luis Fabiano, who scored the second goal on a fast break. “It shows that we are improving match after match, and this is important in a competition like the World Cup. We want to keep playing better and we did that today.”

Brazil and Chile split possession, and the Brazilians just narrowly outshot their opponents 17 to 15. Still, Chile lacked precision in decisive moments, unlike Robinho, who scored his first goal of the World Cup after a dazzling run by Ramires.

“It was made perfectly clear today that there are distances between the big teams and our team,” Chile’s coach admitted.

“Perhaps the result could have been narrower,” Bielsa said. “But, generally speaking, we can say that the superiority of Brazil was too much for us. We were unable to slow them down.”

Dunga said Brazil’s confidence is growing match by match. But he wouldn’t be drawn into talking about prospects of Brazil lifting the World Cup trophy for a record sixth time.

“Given the quality of the Brazilian players, there is always this expectation that Brazil will be the winners,” Dunga said. “But being favorite doesn’t mean you will win the World Cup.”

Paraguay 0, Japan 0 (Paraguay wins 5-3 on PKs): In Pretoria, Paraguay advanced to the World Cup quarterfinals for the first time with a victory in penalty kicks today.

Oscar Cardozo clinched the win with a low left-footed drive past goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima. The only miss in the shootout was by Japan defender Yuichi Komano on the third try, when he hit the crossbar. That made the difference.

The Paraguayans are the fourth South American team into the final eight; only Chile fell short, and it lost to Brazil in the second round.

When Cardozo easily beat Kawashima to end the exhausting match and nerve-racking shootout, his teammates stormed onto the field in celebration of the nation’s biggest World Cup win. Cardozo pulled at his jersey, goalkeeper Justo Villar jumped on him and they were quickly swarmed on by the whole team.

Japanese players watched the final shot on their knees with their arms around each other. When it went into the net, they let go and sagged. Keiji Tamada fell onto his back, while Japanese players and fans wept.

It was the first match of this World Cup that went to penalty kicks, and for Paraguay it was no problem. Edgar Barreto, Lucas Barrios, Cristian Riveros, Nelson Valdez and Cardozo didn’t come close to missing.

Paraguay will play the winner of today’s Spain-Portugal match in the quarterfinals on Saturday.

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.